


Once More

by SeveralSmallHedgehogs



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Blood, Gen, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:48:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26804638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeveralSmallHedgehogs/pseuds/SeveralSmallHedgehogs
Summary: Since they’d told Molly where they were going, they met him again. But he wasn’t Molly. Instead, they met Lucien.
Relationships: The Mighty Nein & Mollymauk Tealeaf
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	Once More

**Author's Note:**

> this isn't really meant to be a follow-up to the most recent development and it's really soon to be canon divergent, but some iteration of it has been sitting in my drafts for almost a year. If I don't post it soon, I probably wouldn't post it at all.
> 
> (I do have a part 2 that I'm working on, focused more on Lucien and Caleb)

Caduceus was the first one to run into him. Caduceus, the only one who wouldn’t recognize him right away. The only one who wouldn’t necessarily notice what was different. Of course, the stranger was making Caduceus’s skin crawl even before Cad saw him. The grave cleric had sensed something off in the town square, which made no sense. Wouldn’t people be running and screaming, or at least clearing a space? He used his considerable height to scan his surroundings, over the tops of people’s heads. But he didn’t see anyone particularly unusual. But _something_ was very, very wrong with someone nearby.

And then he stepped out of the crowd and said hello. Caduceus looked him over, thinking, trying to pick out what was wrong with him. The fact that he didn’t like this stranger was not nearly as troubling as the fact that he couldn’t tell _why_ he didn’t like him, even before he spoke.

If the stranger saw the searching look on Caduceus’s face, he pretended not to notice. “Hey, there,” he said. “You look like a pretty sharp fellow, can I ask you something?”

Caduceus nodded slowly, speculatively. “Sure.”

“Have you seen a group with another tiefling around lately?” the stranger asked. “She’s blue, really bubbly? She’d have been with a half-orc, or a grumpy monk? Maybe a twitchy goblin or a real grungy-looking human in a coat?”

Caduceus furrowed his brow. “Why? Do you know them?”

“You could say that.” The stranger’s hand slipped down from his hip to rest against the hilt of his sword. “I’ve been trying to track them down for close to a year, now. So you’ve seen them?” Caduceus studied the stranger. He was smiling, but it wasn’t a kind smile. He was showing teeth. Caduceus had been a part of the Nein long enough to know that they were at least as good at making strange enemies as they were at making strange friends. More of the latter than the former, but what few enemies they had were powerful, and he’d thought he’d met all of them by now. “I’ve seen them,” Caduceus acknowledged, not quite willing to lie yet. “Why are you looking for them?”

“It’s a long story.” The stranger pushed a lock of hair back out of his face. “The short version is that we were good friends for a while, and then they left me to die.”

Caduceus blinked. “They did?” That didn’t sound like them.

“Yeah. So if you could tell me where you saw them, I’d appreciate it.” The stranger smiled again. “I’d really like to talk about what happened.”

There was a long pause. At last, Caduceus said, “I’m not sure where I saw them,” he said. “I haven’t seen them in… a while.” He tried for a smile. “Sorry.”

“Oh, okay,” the stranger said. He smiled again. “Thanks for your time, though. Good to know I’m close.” Then he waved goodbye and slipped back into the crowd. Caduceus watched him go and waited around a little while longer, to make sure the stranger was really gone. Only then did he head back towards the rest of the Nein, taking a meandering route to make sure he wasn’t being followed.

They were all going about their business when Caduceus arrived. Jester was drawing, and Caleb was doing something with his spellbook. Veth was cleaning and oiling a crossbow. Fjord and Yasha were leaning against separate trees with their eyes closed, and Caduceus could see immediately that Fjord was asleep. Yasha was not. It took Caduceus another moment to spot Beau; she was sitting behind Caleb, reading.

A few of them looked up when he arrived. Jester bounced to her feet. “Did you find what you were looking for, Caduceus?”

“I did.” He smiled at her. “And I met someone who was looking for you all. He didn’t name anybody, but he mentioned a blue tiefling, a half-orc, and a monk and everything.”

The others looked at each other. Veth lowered her crossbow into her lap and let it rest there. Fjord, awakened by the sounds of the others’ voices, frowned groggily.

“What did he look like?” Caleb asked, briefly locking eyes with Beau.

“Yeah,” Beau added. “Was he a human?”

“No,” Caduceus said. “He was a tiefling, actually, but purple, and—”

Jester gasped and spun around to face the others. “It’s Molly!”

“Hang on,” Fjord said, getting to his feet. “Caduceus, can you give us a little more of a description?”

“Well, he had horns like this,” Caduceus explained, indicating how they curved down to his jaw. “And his eyes were red, which was a little off-putting, I’ll admit. And I got sort of a strange feeling from him…”

Jester wasn’t listening anymore. “It’s Molly! It’s got to be him!”

“Did he know our names?” Caleb pressed.

“He didn’t say any of them, so I’m not really sure.”

There was another long pause before Yasha spoke from the shadow of her tree. “Did he tell you his name?”

“I’m afraid not.”

“It was him,” Jester said with certainty. “It was _definitely_ him. He looked like this, right?” She flipped through her sketchbook until she found the drawing she was looking for. She shoved it in Caduceus’s face.

Caduceus studied the drawing. “It could be,” he said.

Yasha got to her feet and stepped out of the shade. “Where did you see him?”

They went back into town and looked for him, but he was nowhere to be seen. They stayed in town a little while longer, searching. Jester sat down and sent a message: “Hi, Molly! Were you looking for us in Amber's Roost? We’re going North, to Aeor. Meet us there if you can. We are… glad you’re… okay.”

She felt the spell take, and the response came in a few seconds. "Oh! I was looking for you all." His tone was not a friendly one. He didn't sound like Molly. "Aeor, huh? I'll meet you there."

And that was it.

Jester was silent for a minute. The others crowded around her. Beau asked what Molly said. "He said... he'd meet us there," Jester said slowly. The others brightened, but she didn't. "But, guys..." She looked up. "I don't think it was Molly."

  
Since they’d told him where they were going, they met him again. But Jester was right. He wasn’t Molly.

Instead, they met Lucien. A horrible mirror image of the person they’d known. Bright and cheerful and quick and mean. He and his group cut through the Nein, and when the Nein managed to escape and hide and wait until the danger had passed, Jester could only curl up and cry. Yasha wrapped her arms around her and silently wept as well. Fjord and Beau sat with them and tried to comfort them and each other. Veth moved back and forth between them and Caleb, who sat off by himself, running his fingers through Frumpkin’s fur over and over. Even Caduceus could only offer tea.

Each time they saw Lucien after that, it was a somehow a little easier and somehow a little worse. Beau caught one of his blades between her hands, but he snarled in Infernal and the blood in her eyes rendered her helpless as she blindly backed out of range.

“ _Shit,_ that hurts,” she growled, wiping red off of her cheeks. “God. Fuck.” She just had time to duck under a swing that could have decapitated her.

A wall of fire sprang up between them, and Beau hopped backwards again and glanced over her shoulder. “Thanks, Caleb!”

“It is no trouble! Eyes front!”

They ended up running away. Every time Beau landed a hit on Molly—on Lucien—she saw him make the exact same expression he used to make back when they were on the same side. Even the “ _Oof!_ ” he gave when she kicked him backwards made her look twice, to make sure he was okay, like she had when he was her friend. When Veth shot him in the back to give Yasha time to get away, Beau almost screamed at her.

In the end, Fjord had to drag her away and she didn’t protest, though she was _sure_ that if she could hit him, just once, in just the right way, then maybe— _maybe—_ he’d come to his senses. Rattle his skull a little and bring back the person she’d met in that tavern all that time ago.

Yasha had tears running down her face. Beau couldn’t bring herself to fight Fjord anymore.

  
During quiet moments during the watch, Jester confessed to Veth that she wasn’t even sure if Molly was still in there. “I mean, he must have forgotten us completely, right? He wouldn’t hurt any of us. Maybe he lost his memories like the first time and he doesn’t remember us.”

“Yeah,” Veth mused. “Or maybe Molly was brainwashed. I mean, we weren’t with him when he came back, right? What if somebody found him and brainwashed him?”

“Oh, no, oh no, oh _no_.” Jester looked like she was about to cry. “We left him all alone and now this happened…”

“It’s not your fault,” Veth laid a hand on Jester’s arm. “It’s not anyone’s fault. We just have to… to figure out how to convince him we’re his friends.”

Yasha, awake and listening with her back to the two of them, took a shuddering breath and curled up a little tighter.

The fights kept going. The more they looked into the eyes of nine, the more they ran into Molly—Lucien—and his group. On the road, in towns… it got to the point where if Lucien saw any of the Nein, he drew his swords without a word.

“ _Please,_ Molly!” shouted Jester during one such fight, in the fields. The Nein had spotted a campfire which had, unfortunately, belonged to the Tomb Takers. “Please! We’re your friends!”

He grinned, showing teeth. “ _Friends?_ ” he repeated, slicing at her with one of his swords. “ _FRIENDS?_ ” he shouted. “What kind of _friends_ would bury me in the ground and leave me to crawl out of the dirt all alone? What kind of _friends_ would leave me a note I _can’t fucking read_ that leads me to a _dead end_ in a _huge city?_ What kind of _friends_ would let me wait for months and months and _months_ and _never_ send me a message? Not _once?_ ”

Beau leaped to intercept him and grabbed his wrist, pushing him backwards. “We’re _sorry,_ okay?” she told him. “Look, we were helping Fjord figure out his shit, and then Veth’s family got kidnapped, and we—”

Molly screamed in fury and leaped at her. She wasn’t expecting it. He knocked her over but she caught his blade before it could bite into her neck. He put his other hand on the back of it, shifting his weight, pressing the sword’s edge closer and closer. “ _Fuck_ you,” he told her. His eyes were wild and he was grinning or grimacing or snarling, she couldn’t tell which, maybe a combination of all three. “ _Fuck. You._ You had every _fucking_ opportunity to try to find me, and you _didn’t._ ”

“I’m _sorry,_ ” Beau told him, straining. Her eyes stung, and she wasn’t sure whether he was doing it or if it was just her own stupid self. “I’m _sorry,_ Molly.” Then she twisted and threw him off, straight into Yasha. She hooked her arms under his and pinned them up. Beau knew how to get out of that hold, but apparently Lucien didn’t. He struggled and snarled at them, but he couldn’t seem to break free.

“Caleb,” Yasha said. Her eyes were pleading.

The wizard stepped forward and put his hand out, murmuring something arcane. Molly lunged forward as if to bite him, but Yasha’s grip held. Caleb just stepped back and kept casting. A moment later, the magic took hold: Molly’s eyes rolled up and he slumped over. Yasha carefully lowered him to the ground. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, hugging him against her shoulder. And only then did the tears start to roll down her face.

**Author's Note:**

> [Follow me on tumblr](https://severalsmallhedgehogs.tumblr.com/) for updates and links to new works/chapters!


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